If you’re expecting FOX’s The Orville to be to Star Trek: The Next Generation what Galaxy Quest was to Star Trek: The Original Series, you will be disappointed.

Rather it’s like a tenth generation VHS copy. Squint and you can see TNG characters in the faces of The Orville’s crew, and the plots are reflections of the second Trek series – reflections being the operative word.

WGN America’s supernatural thriller, Salem, is back – and it seems to have slipped a notch. The season premiere, After the Fall, is slick and well crafted technically, but a little too predictable to really be effective.

After leaving us with a truly evil cliffhanger in the previous episode, the second season finale of Salem (WGN America, Sundays, 10/9C) finds justice being meted out – just not by the personage we might have expected it from.

The Witching Hour is a fast-paced, truly gloriously demented work of entertainment.

After this week there remains but one episode of Salem’s (WGN America, Sundays, 10/9C) second season, so it’s only right that everything should lead up to best cliffhanger moment of the season to date (yes, better even than when the Devil himself spoke to Cotton Mather and John Alden through young John).

Thanks to the Countess Marburg, Mary Sibley’s plans have gone awry and her command of Salem has become a desperate bid to save her son’s life. Now we see how the endgame shapes up. It ain’t pretty…

It’s season 2, and things are heating up in the witch wars at “Salem“. As the body count continues to rise, the number of people (or witches) to trust, plummets. Critical decisions must be made, personal battles must be overcome, and the fate of John Alden’s (Shane West) and Mary Sibley’s (Janet Montgomery) son will be decided as Countess Marburg (Lucy Lawless) ensues in trying to bring Mary down and secure her place of power in Salem. Co-creators Adam Simon and Brannon Braga talk with reporters about season 2 of Salem.

Salem (WGN America, Sundays, 10/9C) has, over the course of its two seasons, been about many things – political expedience, the price of love (and hate), and even the nature of good and evil. Mostly, though, it’s about the love of parents for their child – and the way that might interfere from the conquest of the New World.

Arousal is the beginning of all magic, we are reminded as WGN America’s Salem (Sundays, 10/9C) builds towards a big finish to its second season.

Mary Sibley and Countess Marburg continue to feign allegiance, each to the other – as they scheme to achieve dominance over each other – and new allegiances are born in this week’s episode, Dead Birds.